The Return of the Plan... and the Blogger

MakeNine2019 plans, part one. This is my year; I can feel it.

Well, well, well, look who's blogging again. I started putting my 2019 #makenine plans on Instagram, but I realized it was rapidly turning into a essay worthy of an actual blogpost. So here you have it: my first post in over a year.^* Let us glory in its length.

This is part one of my Make Nine, actually -- the Make Nine quickly morphed into a Make Twenty-Seven -- but I'm only allowing myself to get to part two once I've finished at least 2/3 of part one. As always, these are more project/fabric/yarn-based than pattern-based, although I usually have patterns in mind when I buy fabric and yarn. The goal is to seriously sew down the stash, because somehow during the move 5 bins turned into 15 and I've been steadily adding to it since; I'm getting antsy and the DC is climbing the walls because the piles are getting bigger, not smaller. And I am seriously on a fabric ban until next August (unless I need some underlining -- see #5 below).

This is a very small portion of what I need to sew/crochet up.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.


1. Magic Bean Stalk-ings in Madeleine Tosh Norway Spruce from Romni Wool left over from my Dana sweater. I actually started these on Christmas, and I may or may not continue working on them before the new year, because I'm a rebel.

One half of one of the beanstalks.

2 & 3. Sewaholic Tofino pyjama pants in blue/green/white and red/argyle flannels. I have so much of the red flannel that I was thinking of making a pyjama top from Butterick 6085, but to be honest I probably won't since I prefer sleeping in t-shirts. Maybe I'll make the DC a pair from the extra?

4. Rosemary sweater with Handmaiden Maiden Hair in pumpkin from EweKnit. I've been wanting to make this sweater in this colour for years. I won't be able to start until my birthday in February, unless I convince the DC to gift me the swift sooner so I can cake the skeins.

5. Another Mathilde top in this gorgeous navy/white cotton/silk voile. I should not have this it-came-in-the-mail-two-days-ago-fabric from Blackbird Fabrics, but I opened up the email, it called out to me, I couldn't resist. It will be kind of perfect for the AGO Infinity Mirrors party, whenever that is. It's pretty sheer, and I'm not sure I want yet another too-sheer-to-wear-to-school top so I might need to acquire some batiste to underline it.

I should add that the picture of the fabric in the grid was stolen shamelessly from the Blackbird Fabrics site because my own hadn't come yet when I was putting the grid together. It seems to be sold out now, so I'm glad I got it when I did.

6. Assuming I start finish my #makenine2018 Ginger jeans before the end of the year, I have plans for a pair of jeans made with the extra-speshul Cone Mills denim. Depending on how the Gingers fit, this fourth very-special-pair-of-jeans will probably be a mashup of the Jalie jeans and Ginger. Or maybe not. We'll see. There will be awesome jeans, whatever pattern I use. I might even get around to blogging them.

7. I will be making another Butterick 5526. I have some slate blue cotton waiting to be made up into the version with the frill, although I'm going to go for square pleats to mimic a rtw version I have. Another option for this pattern is some rust double-gauze from Blackbird, but I might go for a Mathilde with that one. We'll see.

8. During MMM18, I discovered a hole in my wardrobe: I need a light black jacket. Enter Marfy 1756, the free jacket pattern, to be made unlined in Tencel Twill II ^**. Sadly, the blog with the Marfy sewalongs is not working for me, so I am grateful that My Little Sewing Dreams is still up and for the Wayback Machine. This is going to be my March Break project; I'm even going to make a muslin. And hopefully finally learn how to properly bind seams (and what the difference is, if there is one, between Hong Kong and bound seam finishes). This tutorial series looks helpful.

9. The last one is more about scrap-busting than anything else. I'll be making a set or two of Grace hipsters, some more Mary boyshorts, and also some Rosalie stockings (those last may happen sooner rather than later).


I think I'll do a massive cutting session before school starts to help motivate me into actually sewing these things.

That should bring me to April. Make Nine is supposed to be a gentle year-long challenge, but my problem with choosing only nine projects for the entire year is that I know I'm going to do more, but the other projects are not "on the list" so I feel a bit guilty working on them. This year I've just gone ahead and planned out a second (and potential third) set of nine. Like I said: it's really more of a Make Twenty-Seven at this point.

Make Nine 2019, part two: the patterns. One of these projects is time-sensitive and will happen regardless of how finished part one is. And yes, those linen capris have made the cut for the third year running. This is my year, I tell you!

Make Nine part two: the fabrics. This will only get me down to 12 or so bins. *Sigh*

The next set is a bit more fluid. I have definite pattern/fabric pairings for some of these, and I'm not making those cable socks until the fall, but others... let's just say this last grid may not look anything like this next summer.

Make nine, part 3. This part is entirely fluid, pattern-wise. In fact, I think the Renfrews will probably be Ogden or So Zo' camis.

^*If you're wondering how this can be, what with all the blog posts between November 23, 2017, then good on me for catching up on my blog posting. If you have no idea what this footnote is about, then stick around. I plan to time lord it up in this blog.

^**Did you notice three different fabrics from Blackbird? They came in three different orders, and none of them came alone. Clearly I need to stop opening those Blackbird emails for a while.